In 1993, Andrew Moskos, an aspiring comedian from Chicago, was traveling in Amsterdam and hanging out in a cannabis coffee shop when he and a friend came up with what he describes as “the best stoner idea, ever.” The plan was to relocate to the Dutch capital and start a Second City-style improv comedy troupe.

The result, Boom Chicago, began with five performers in a salsa venue and has grown into a comedy institution in Holland, with 11 performers and almost 100 employees. The troupe has also become a kind of farm team for the American comedy industry. Past Boom members include former head writer of “The Colbert Report,” Allison Silverman; “Daily Show” writer Peter Grosz; “Wicked” and “MADtv” star Nicole Parker; and “Saturday Night Live” cast members Seth Meyers and Jason Sudeikis. Starting tomorrow, as part of the New Island Festival, which celebrates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s settlement of Manhattan, the current iteration of Boom Chicago will be performing on Governors Island.

This marks the first time the troupe has come to New York, but Boom has become increasingly well-known in American comedy circles, as the careers of its alumni flourish. Parker auditioned for the troupe in 2000, after graduating from Indiana University. “At first I thought Boom was a mythical job, like a unicorn,” she said. “Getting to do something you love in Europe is the most amazing thing. It’s like telling a kid he gets to do recess, followed by a nap, followed by snacks.”

Four days after landing in Amsterdam, Parker had an apartment and was doing her first show. Like many Boom performers, she alternated between the nightly shows at the troupe’s homebase, the 300-seat Leidseplein Theater, with corporate gigs across Europe, handling writing, acting and even advertising duties – an experience Parker describes as comedy “boot camp.”

Seth Meyers credits the two years he spent as a member of Boom for maturing him as a performer and writer, in large part because he was creating comedy for a foreign audience. “That’s the greatest gift Boom gives to its people,” Meyers said. “The humor has to be more pure.” Meyers said there’s a tendency to think a clever in-joke about American culture is comedy, “but an ‘A-Team’ reference is only funny if you’ve seen the show – and maybe not even then.”

Instead, Boom topics revolve around Dutch daily life, global pop-culture (see video below) and politics. “Some of our most successful shows have been about American elections,” Moskos said. “The Dutch are very well read. The show isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s not like, ‘Wow, weed is legal and there’s a red-light district!”

Besides, Meyers said, “the worst audience is a stoned audience. They laugh at the set-up. You never know what’s going to set off a dude who’s stoned. I remember we did a show for the Cannabis Cup -– 200 professional weed smokers. It was the worst.”

Asked about the sensibility of an average, non-baked Dutch crowd, Meyers and Parker characterized them as straightforward and honest, almost disconcertingly so. Meyers recalled a night when, after an audience member bought him a post-performance drink, he asked the man what he thought of the show. The man said he didn’t like it. Meyers asked why he bought him a drink then. “He told me, ‘We don’t dislike you; we just don’t think you’re very funny.’”

In its early days the troupe, which holds auditions in Chicago and Los Angeles, had difficulty luring talented performers to Europe, according to Moskos. “They’d say, I’d love to but I’d be out of the loop. Who’s going to see me in Amsterdam?”

Now, many aspiring improv comedians view Boom on a level with the Groundlings, Upright Citizens Brigade or Second City as a career starting point. That will likely continue. Moskos, who married a Dutch woman and has two children, said he has no plans to disband the troupe he started as a lark 16 years ago. “As long as we keep touring and get exciting corporate gigs and TV shows, why stop?” he said. “I turned 40 last year, and it’s like, how do you have a mid-life crisis if you have a crazy life?”

About Speakeasy

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